| Redesigning Corporate India The Rs. 60-crore architecture and corporate interior design frim Della Tecnica, headed by its yound managing director Jimmy Mistry, is being transformed into a powerhouse that will offer an entire gamut of building services including construction, real estate and real estate consultancy, turning the relatively small company into an all-round player, writes Principal Correspodent Jai Shankara. Della Tecnica's Headquaters at Tardeo in central Mumbai is sharply different from run-of-the-mill corporate office. It exudes an air of informality as well as an old-world charm. Located on the ground floor of a colonical-style building, away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai's frenetic traffic, the office of Della Tecnica combines elegance and comfort with functionality. The personal touch of Jimmy Mistry, sports buff-turned-entrepreneur-turned-corporate hotshot, is visible in every aspect of his office design. Says the 32-year-old managing director of Della Tecnica: "I wanted this office to be a creative hub and the aesthetics and ergonomics are so designed as to encourage this." It is this creativity and a refreshingly innovative approach towards designing that catapulted Della Tecnica to the top echelons of the Indian architecture and corporate interior design segment within less than a decade of its inception. The Rs.2 lakh start-up of 1995 has today evolved into a Rs. 60-crore design solutions powerhouse and has a blue-riband list of clients. The YoY growth for the company has been stunning at between 80-100 per cent. Geometric growth from inception has been the hallmark of Mr. Mistry's leadership. Says he: "Right from the outset, we have focused on offering innovative, yet functional designs. We have imbibed the best of international practices and the latest trends and our clients are a highly satisfied lot." In an intensely competitive business in which customer satisfaction is a critical driver of growth, this strategy has proved successful for Dell Tecnica. Today even as it s client base has expanded rapidly, it enjoys an exceptional 80 per cent client retention record (repeat customers). The company's financial performance has been equally outstanding. Turnover vaulted by more than one hundred percent from Rs. 12 crore in FY 02 to Rs. 30 crore in Fy 03, and this fiscal (FY 04) will hit Rs. 60 crore. Similarly, PAT has risen sharply – from Rs. 60 lakh in FY 03 to nearly Rs. 3 crore in Fy 04, making Della Tecnica one of India's |
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fastest growing companies in a still virgin, but potentially large business segment. Corporate interior designing in India has still to acquire the status of an organised industry. But with more and more MNCs entering the Indian Market and having to maintain international standards of ergonomics in their offieces, this segment is now on the threshold of explosive growth. With the economy too on an upward curve, the fortunes of the real estate and construction sectors looking up and capital investment burgeoning, business potential in the interior designing segment, says Mr. Mistry, "could not be better".
It is this wave that Mr. Mistry hope to ride in the coming days, So buoyant is he about his company's future prospects that he confidently forecasts a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 70 percent, paralaying into a Rs. 500 crore turnover and a PAT of Rs. 70 crore for Della Tecnica by 2008. On the anvil are ambitious diversifications into real estate and construction along with a plunge into real estate consultancy. These twin initiatives plus the existing interior designing business, which by the next fiscal (FY 05) is expected to contribute Rs. 150 crore, will constitute the two main pillars of the company's growth in the medium term.
Mr. Mistry is now fine-tuning his strategies for his real estate diversification. Plans for the first property to be developed in Mumbai, are expected to be finalised by end of March 2004. Reveals Mr. Mistry: "I am planning a new-age, fully residential construction that will add value in terms of design and amenities to its buyers."
The proposed initiative is a result of thorough planning and strategising. Recognising a niche customer segment willing to pay a premium for buying an apartment in a designer tower, Mr. Mistry has swiftly moved to tap this segment. Says he: "There is a dearth of custom-made or well-designed multi-storeyed towers in Mumbai. My tower, directed at the premium custoer segment, will be a blend of aesthetics and functionality. My aim is to make this building a trademark in its area – something for which customers will play a permium to own."
Apart From Indentifying A niche customer segment, the initiative also forms a natural part of Della Tecnica's evolution into a fullyintegrated building and building-related offerings powerhouse. Explains Mr. Mistry: "Our foray into real estate is an extension of our organisation's business. We are already into designing and execution, but now, instead of doing in for others, but now, instead of doing it for others, we will do it ourselves. This will give us greater flexibility in designing."
Della Tecnica has also been contemplating a joint venture for its real estate foray and is already in negotiations with a few likely partners. The company is further negotiating funding requirements with two banks, which may also take up equity in the porject.
Its other diversification – into real estate consultancy – for which a separate business unit will be set up by May 2004, is expected to fructify into another highyielding revenue stream in the coming years. This will be more in the nature of a commercial and residential properties brokerage business and here Mr. Mistry's plan is to tap Della Tecnica's existing corporate clients.
For example, Della Tecnica has designed the interiors of blue-chips such as Star TV and Nokia (for its retail outlets ) among others, and will now add real estate consultancy to its gamut of services, thereby acquiring an added levereage in themarket. Point out Mr. Mistry: "We cater to these clients and several other MNCs on an all-India basis. Now many of them are on the lookout for properties all over the country. Since we are already doing business with them, it is but natural that they will prefer to deal with us if we offer them real estate consultancy. A large pool of existing clients will come in handy for us in this new initivative."
Another diversification, albeit small in dimension, is a planned entry into corporate interiors in the Gulf. This too will take the form of a JV and is likely to fructify by end-2004. The initiative has been promopted by the fact that the economy is booming in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and consequently a huge, high-phtential market has opened up for turkey interior designing. Further, investment requirments are limited as interiors are mainly financed by customers themselves and this diversification will hele complement Della Tecnica's Indian operations. Besides, as Mr. Mistry point out, Della Techica's focus in the UAE will be on MNCs, with the intention of attracting them to the Indian market.
However, Even As Tehe Platform For launching these business is being rapidly built, it is clear that corporate interior designing on which Della Tecnica has cut its teeth will continue to remain its bread-and-cutter business. "There is immense scope for growth in interiors – we have not even scratched the tip of the ice berg," says Mr. Mistry. The industry is expected to grow at around 15 percent annually over the next three years and Della Tecnica, the first ISO 9001:2000 interiors company in India and also the only fully-integrated company in the country to offer the entire gamut of interiors solutions to its clients, is well-poised to exploit the emerging market opportunities advantageously.
Della Tecnica's advantage stems from the fact that unlike its competitors who design and then contract out other funcations, it offers all services in-house, ultimately proving more cost-effective to its clients. And again, unlike its competitors who make all purchase through the architect working on that project, Della Tecnica handles its purchases through a separate department set up for the purpose. This also lends economies of scalse to the company's operations.
The interiors powerhouse also possesses a high-tech manufacturing facility in Daman on which over Rs. 2 crore has been invested (all through internal accruals) over the year. This 32,000 sq.ft. Facility has all requirments for modular furniture manufacturing, inhouse powder-coating plant, metals division and fabricating machines, besides its own logistics apparatus, packinging and dispatch lines and a fleet of trucks. Personnel turnaround here has been less than two per cent, an achievement of which Mr. Mistry is understandably proud.
With the foray into real estate and construction high on its agenda. Della Tecnica's thing-tank also plans to import interior-related products such as readymade doors and windows. Mr. Mistry avers that these products will be highly technology-driven and that their imports will bestow upon his company, a price advantage and faster turnaround time.
With over 650 personnel including 35 top-notch professionals in architecture and designing. Mr. Mistry's big projects include Star TV's corporate office building and news studios spread over 1,00,000 sq.ft. Radio City's radio station in Mumbai, Delhi and Lucknow, AC Nielsen-ORG Marg's corporate office in Mumbai, Baroda and Delhi covering 68,000 sq.ft., Nokia retail store and Bajaj Allianz insurance branches across India. Dianum Gold factory, Shalina and Nerolac paint laboratories in Navi Mumbai, Pan Parag's residential towers and the offices of BPL Mobie, GlobeOp and Moneyline Telerate, etc.
Mr. Mistry's currnet favourite project is designing the duplex suite and executing the corporate wing and chairman's suite at Sahara Hospitality Hotel at the airport (belonging to his corporate idol Mr. Subroto Roy of the Sahara Group).
Says Mr. Mistry: "I wish I can imbibe even a fraction of his business acumen, farsighted approach, leadership qualities, corporate ethos and values into my organisation. It is out of love and respect for Mr. Roy that I ventured into the hospitality segment even though corporate office interiors remain our main forte."
Thus, within a short span of eight years, Della Tccnica has achieved rapid growth in the critical parameters of turnover, profit and a blue-chip client base. Today it is the market leader in the Indian corporate interior designing segment. Once its ambitious, but well-planned diversifications into real estate, construction and consultancy take off, Della Tecnica will get transformed into a fully-integrated player offering the entire gamut of services – from manufacturing, designing, contracting and project management to real estate and construction. It is no wonder then that Della Tecnica's neverscenter at south Mumbai's Tardeo is currently throbbing with energy as Mr. Mistry and his young team (average age:25) burn midnight oil, fine-tuning their plans to transform the company into a diversified design and realty powerhouse.
- Jimmy
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